Black Raspberry Birthday Cakes

Jun272007

I felt Farmer’s Market Greed during our Saturday morning trip to the Tower Grove Farmer’s Market. I was in line waiting – relatively patiently, I might add, despite the fact that my eyeballs were starting to sweat and it wasn’t yet 9 a.m. – to purchase a few baskets of fresh, dewy black raspberries. Then the woman at the front of the line chose to buy all the pints displayed on the table. I felt a clenching, anxious panic come over me as I watched her snatch them up.

The person behind me sucked in her breath and said “Oh, are there any left!?”

That’s just what I was wondering, but because I was in the process of sending out invisible extra-pointy asparagus spears into the back of the black raspberry-buying woman’s head, I wasn’t able to articulate the question myself.

It turned out that yes, there were plenty more berries – enough for everyone!

But I was a little traumatized by my greediness. I might need to do some deep breathing before shopping for precious produce next time out.

We just happened to be celebrating a birthday in the middle of a busy weekend, and I thought that individual cakes would be satisfying and fuss-free. I might be a little greedy, but I don’t have time to mess with fussy, fancy cakes. I adapted a recipe for Brown Sugar Bundt Cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours(is there any recipe in this book that doesn’t turn out perfectly?) by baking the batter in oversized Texas muffin tins instead of a Bundt pan and reducing the baking time.

These are essentially big, rich cupcakes. They would be yummy without the topping, maybe just a dusting of powdered sugar over the tops.

I would stand in line for these any day. Just don’t buy all the berries!

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the extracts.

Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and mixing just until dry ingredients are incorporated.

Spoon batter evenly into 10 cups of the muffin tins (pour water 3/4 full into the 2 empty muffin cups for even baking) and bake 20 – 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool pans on a rack 15 minutes before turning cakes out to cool completely.

To make the topping, combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed until the mixture forms soft peaks. Dollop over the tops of the cakes and top with berries. Dust with powdered sugar.

I too had an oh no! memoment at the FM when I thought the black raspberries would be gone before it was my turn. But like you I was able to purchase 2 baskets and now I’m thinking cupcakes too…great idea.

Oh my gosh…those look fantastic! What a great birthday treat.I would have been spearing the lady with asparagus too. Luckily there were enough berries for everyone! I would hate to see violence at the Farmers Market 🙂